Snapshot:
What We Knew: Absolutely nothing; we didn't even know this place existed until two days before we arrived
What We Discovered: Amazing beach town & local food stalls are cheaper and more delicious than restaurants
What We Did: Rent Motorbikes, Karaoke, Water Park, & Waterfalls
How Much We Paid Per Day: $40 on average for room, food, & activities for the both of us
Local Food
The second day we went to a nice restaurant called Louisiana Brewery, we each had a meal, two entrees, and two beers. It ended up totaling around $25. Which, in the US would be a standard price for two people. But here it is definitely the most expensive price we've paid for food. The next day we went to a local stall and had the same amount of food for 1/5 of the price (and it was more delicious)! After that we decided to only go to stalls and occasionally a restaurant if we felt lazy. It's not as easy as it seems once you're at the point where hunger headaches start to set in and you arrive at a stall where no one speaks english and the menu is only in Vietnamese. It's hard to take a leap of faith and try new foods when you know you could go to a western restaurant and order exactly what you like for a few bucks more. But this way is more fun, adventurous, and authentic.
Here are a few meals we ate and what the total cost was for the both of us:
Pho- $4.75
BBQ- $7.00
Rice dish- $1.20
BBQ Beef- $6.35 (two beers, beef wraps and tofu)
What We Knew: Absolutely nothing; we didn't even know this place existed until two days before we arrived
What We Discovered: Amazing beach town & local food stalls are cheaper and more delicious than restaurants
What We Did: Rent Motorbikes, Karaoke, Water Park, & Waterfalls
How Much We Paid Per Day: $40 on average for room, food, & activities for the both of us
Local Food
The second day we went to a nice restaurant called Louisiana Brewery, we each had a meal, two entrees, and two beers. It ended up totaling around $25. Which, in the US would be a standard price for two people. But here it is definitely the most expensive price we've paid for food. The next day we went to a local stall and had the same amount of food for 1/5 of the price (and it was more delicious)! After that we decided to only go to stalls and occasionally a restaurant if we felt lazy. It's not as easy as it seems once you're at the point where hunger headaches start to set in and you arrive at a stall where no one speaks english and the menu is only in Vietnamese. It's hard to take a leap of faith and try new foods when you know you could go to a western restaurant and order exactly what you like for a few bucks more. But this way is more fun, adventurous, and authentic.
Here are a few meals we ate and what the total cost was for the both of us:
Pho- $4.75
BBQ- $7.00
Rice dish- $1.20
BBQ Beef- $6.35 (two beers, beef wraps and tofu)
Motorbikes
We rented a motorbike from our hotel for $5/day and rode it all around and outside of the city. This was the first time we've ridden on a motorbike together (and it was even more difficult being in Asia). We rode to the beaches and all of the food stalls. The interesting thing about the beaches here-- there are a few main beach areas but they are only populated by westerners. The other "local" beaches away from the hotels are completely empty, the locals don't really go to the beach. Our friend explained that locals go before and after work sometimes, around 5AM or 5PM. Everyone covers up from head to toe when they ride around town on their bikes, and for good reason. The sun is so brutal here that even riding on the bike will give someone a sunburn after a half hour of riding.
We rented a motorbike from our hotel for $5/day and rode it all around and outside of the city. This was the first time we've ridden on a motorbike together (and it was even more difficult being in Asia). We rode to the beaches and all of the food stalls. The interesting thing about the beaches here-- there are a few main beach areas but they are only populated by westerners. The other "local" beaches away from the hotels are completely empty, the locals don't really go to the beach. Our friend explained that locals go before and after work sometimes, around 5AM or 5PM. Everyone covers up from head to toe when they ride around town on their bikes, and for good reason. The sun is so brutal here that even riding on the bike will give someone a sunburn after a half hour of riding.
VinPearl Island
Admission Fee- $25/pp which compared to the US is a great deal for everything that was included. With the admission fee we got a cable car ride to the island & access to all of the water slides, water park, roller coasters, aquarium, water show, dolphin shows, etc. Usually we don't splurge $50/day on anything but we decided to spoil ourselves and have some fun in the sun. We took our Go Pro with us down most of the water slides, which they call "games". And we also drifted through their aquarium which had an extensive amount of native fish that we had never seen before.
Admission Fee- $25/pp which compared to the US is a great deal for everything that was included. With the admission fee we got a cable car ride to the island & access to all of the water slides, water park, roller coasters, aquarium, water show, dolphin shows, etc. Usually we don't splurge $50/day on anything but we decided to spoil ourselves and have some fun in the sun. We took our Go Pro with us down most of the water slides, which they call "games". And we also drifted through their aquarium which had an extensive amount of native fish that we had never seen before.
Friends & Karaoke
The hotel staff was incredibly friendly, we ended up becoming really great friends with the the owner, Mr. Quoc. He took us the second night to grab beers at a local bar where the three of us chatted the night away. Another night him and I went bar hopping and then the fifth night he got his wife, sister-in-law, Steve and Asha to go to karaoke with us. We rented out a private room for $7/hour and had beers, food, and fun times singing together. The Asian style karaoke is much more fun than the American style in my opinion, instead of singing at a bar in front of drunk strangers who glare at you, you're in a room with close friends getting to sing song after song together while drinking as much beer as you can handle. This was such a blast, one of our favorite nights for sure.
The hotel staff was incredibly friendly, we ended up becoming really great friends with the the owner, Mr. Quoc. He took us the second night to grab beers at a local bar where the three of us chatted the night away. Another night him and I went bar hopping and then the fifth night he got his wife, sister-in-law, Steve and Asha to go to karaoke with us. We rented out a private room for $7/hour and had beers, food, and fun times singing together. The Asian style karaoke is much more fun than the American style in my opinion, instead of singing at a bar in front of drunk strangers who glare at you, you're in a room with close friends getting to sing song after song together while drinking as much beer as you can handle. This was such a blast, one of our favorite nights for sure.
Ba Ho Waterfalls
On our last full day in Nha Trang, Mr. Quoc and Giang took us to Ba Ho waterfalls about an hour away from Nha Trang. They went to the market and picked up some food for a picnic while we were at the waterfalls. To get to the falls, we had to take the highway, onto a dirt road that winded through the forest for another two miles. Then, once we parked the motorbikes, we had to walk another twenty minutes through the forest and climb up many rocks and boulders until we reached the third level of the waterfalls. From there we set up a picnic site and then prepared to go jump into the water and reward ourselves for the long journey we took. The water was nice and cool, it was also full of small fish that would nibble at your legs like the ones from the fish spa.
On our last full day in Nha Trang, Mr. Quoc and Giang took us to Ba Ho waterfalls about an hour away from Nha Trang. They went to the market and picked up some food for a picnic while we were at the waterfalls. To get to the falls, we had to take the highway, onto a dirt road that winded through the forest for another two miles. Then, once we parked the motorbikes, we had to walk another twenty minutes through the forest and climb up many rocks and boulders until we reached the third level of the waterfalls. From there we set up a picnic site and then prepared to go jump into the water and reward ourselves for the long journey we took. The water was nice and cool, it was also full of small fish that would nibble at your legs like the ones from the fish spa.
LOST...
I showed Alissa the first episode of Lost on our third day here when we were severely sunburned after our trip to the beach. Now she's hooked, and we're watching all of the episodes now. This will be my third time re-watching all of the seasons of Lost haha.